Decide NICL cases in 10 days, SC orders NAB courts

LAHORE - Chief Justice of Paksitan Mian Saqib Nisar Thursday expressed dismay over poor performance of National Accountability Bureau in National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam, observing the NAB could not arrest a proclaimed offender in the case.

The CJP, heading a three-member bench, was hearing multiple cases at the Supreme Court Lahore Registry. The court directed the NAB courts to decide the NICL cases within 10 days.

A NAB lawyer told the bench that the proceedings on the NICL cases were in progress; statement of 72 witnesses had been recorded in NAB’s Karachi case while three witnesses’ statement had been recorded in Lahore’s case.

“It’s very strange that first you commit corruption and then go unpunished,” said the lawyer. “Those who did corruption must be punished.”

The bench sought the record of all NICL cases pending before the Lahore and Karachi NAB courts and ordered the anti-graft body to arrest Mohsin Warraich. The NAB informed the bench that Ayaz Khan was into the bureau custody on physical remand.

“It seems the NAB is showing leniency in the case,” the bench observed. The court further said this development was before the last time proceedings. The NAB courts had been given 10 days to decide the NICL cases.